Adjusting device for car-couplings.



P. H. WENDT.

, 0. 1,007,997. Patented Nom, 1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

noemer.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED H. WEND'I, OF MAR-SHFIELD, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD T0 ELI CROTTEAU, OF MARSI-IFIELD, WISCONSIN.

ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 7, 1911.

To all whom it may concrm:

Be it known that I, FRED H. WENDT, citizen of the United States, residing at Marshfield, in the county of Wood and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjusting Devices for Car-Couplings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for adjusting car couplers, and has for one of its objects to provide a simply constructed attachment whereby car couplings may be adjusted without detaching any portion either of the car, the coupler, or the holding devices.

With this and other objects in view the invention consists in certain novel features of construction as hereinafter shown and described and then specifically pointed out in the claims.

The severe strains and rough usage to which car couplers are subjected when in use often throw them out of adjustment and cause annoying delays, and if neglected are liable to cause serious accidents. The usual method of readjusting the drawheads is to jack up the coupler, detach the supporting members and insert filler blocks or strips, restore the supporting members and release the jacks.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a simply constructed device whereby in event of the couplers getting out of adjustment relative to the car they can be quickly restored to their normal position without the use of jacks or detaching any of the parts either of the coupler or of the car.

The improved device may be applied to any of the Master Car Builders type of couplers without material structural change in the device.

For the purpose of illustration the improved device is shown applied to a conventional coupler and a portion of the car frame including the drawhead timbers, and in the drawings thus employed;

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the improved device applied, with the drawhead in transverse section; Fig. 2 is a side elevation with the improved device in section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the supporting member, detached; Fig. 4 is a perspective view, from beneath, of the bearing member; Fig. 5 is a perspective view, from above, of the adjusting member; Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the adjusting member. Fig. 7 is a detail view of a portion of the stirrup or drawhead support, illustrating a slight modification in the construction.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

The improved device comprises a supporting member or stirrup 10 and connected by bolts 11 to the drawhead timbers 12 and eX- tending beneath the drawhead, indicated conventionallyat 13, and spaced below the same, as shown. The member 10 is provided centrally with a bearing aperture 14 and with seats 15 arranged radially around the aperture. The member 10 is also provided with a stop lug 16 at one point, as shown.

Engaging beneath the drawhead 13 is a bearing member 17 having notches 18 in its ends for bearing on tie bolts 19 which extend through the draw timbers 12 and alongside the drawhead and also extend through the supporting member 10, and provided with holding nuts 20 beneath the member 10. By this means the member 10 is firmly coupled to the car framework, while the bearing member 17 is likewise held in position and prevented from rotation by its slidable engagement with the tie rods. Depending from the member 17 are a plurality of cam lugs 21, each cam lug being provided with a plurality of radial grooves or seats 22, similar to the seats 15 of the member 10. Located between the members l0 and 17 is a disk 23 having a stud 24 depending therefrom and engaging in the aperture 14, the stud being provided with a wrench engaging terminal 25 below the plate 10. The disk 23 is provided with a plurality of radial ribs 26 for engaging in the radial seats 15 of the member 10.

Rising from the upper face of the member 23 are a plurality of cam lugs 27 corresponding with and operating in opposition to the cam lugs 21 of the member 17. Each of the cam lugs 27 is provided with an upwardly directed rib 28 at its upper terminal for engaging in the radial grooves 22. Depending from the member 21 at spaced intervals are stops 29 which bear over the disk 23 and operate to prevent lateral displacement between the members 18 and 23, while at the rotated between the members and 17.

The stop 16 is designed to be engaged by one of the stops 29 to limit the lmovement of the disk 23 in one direction, while a stop 30 on the disk 23 limits the movement in the other direction. By this simple arrangement it will be obvious that an eifectual adjusting device is produced whereby the drawhead maybe adjusted vertically by simply rotating the member 23 by force applied to the terminal 25 of the stud 24, and without the necessity for detaching any of the parts or employing jack screws or other devices for elevating the drawhead. It will also be obvious that by employing the interengaging ribs and channels that when the adjustment has once been obtained no danger exists of displacement or disarrangement of the parts under the jars and concussions to which the couplers are liable.

In vsome forms of car construction the inner pair of tie rods 19, with which the member 17 is slidably engaged, will be dispensed with and guide devices 31 substituted and preferably formed integral with the member 10, as shown in Fig. 7, but this slight change does not constitute a departure from the spirit of the invention or sacrifice any of its advantages.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A device for supporting and adjusting car couplings comprising a support adapted to be connected to a car frame and provided with a plurality of radially arranged seats, a bearing member adapted to engage beneath the drawbar of a car coupler and provided with cam lugs, and an adjusting member having cam lugs for engaging the cam lugs of the bearing member and with radial ribs for engaging in the radial seats of the supporting member, said adjusting member being arranged for rotation to cause the operative engagement of the cam lugs.

2. A device for supporting and adjusting car couplings comprising a support adapted to be connected to a car frame, a bearing member adapted to engage beneath the drawbar of a car coupler and provided with cam lugs, and an adjusting member having cam lugs for engaging thecam lugs of the bearing member, said adjusting member being arranged for rotation to cause the operative engagement of the cam lugs.

3. A device for supporting and adjusting car couplings comprising a support adapted to be connected to a car frame and provided with a plurality of radially arranged seats and a bearing aperture, a bearing member adapted to engage beneath the drawbar of a car coupler and provided with cam lugs, and an adjusting member having cam lugs for engaging the cam lugs of the bearing member and with a bearing stud for engaging in the bearing aperture, said bearing stud being adapted to receive an implement for rotating the adjusting member.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRED H. WENDT. [n s] Vit-nesses:

FRAN-K VAUGHN, ELI CROTTEAU.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

